Existential-Cataphatic Aspect of the Perception of Orthodox Wooden Sculpture on the Example of Sabaoth (Irkutsk, 18th Century)

Abstract

We give a semiotic justification of the using of non-canonical wooden sculpture in the Orthodox parishes of Irkutsk in the 18th century. From the standpoint of the semiotic approach, we consider the reasons why the non-canonical status of the sculpture did not prevent its applying in the liturgy. People's perception is presented in its craving for the substantial communication with the sacred, endowed by the existential of presence. Sculpture, from the point of view of the people's worldview, is presented as the existential of the substantial presence of God and the cataphatic manifestation of his predicates. The semiotic status of sculpture is defined as mobile, located between a symbol and a sign. The sculpture is deprived the apophatic abstractness of the symbol, however, it does not become a pointing sign. This position of the sculpture as a cataphatic affirmation of the predicates of God as merciful and forgiving makes it effective in conditions of transcultural missionary communication with indigenous peoples of Baikal region, creating an existential of presence and connection with God.